Educational Activities

Rhyme Rodeo

Take turns reading the poems with your child. Have your child choose the poem and you read it, and vice versa.

Take turns selecting the correct word to finish the verse of the poem.

If you come across a word or two that your child does not know, try to get him/her to figure out the meaning of the word based on the sentence. If the meaning of the word is still unclear, encourage your child to use a dictionary to look up the definition of the word. You can also try an online dictionary at www.dictionary.com.

Ontario Curriculum Connections:

This activity encourages your child to play with poetry and create a poem, meeting expectations of the Language curriculum. This game meets many expectations in multiple grades, one of which is:

Language: Writing

Use editing, proofreading and publishing skills and strategies, and knowledge of language conventions to correct errors, refine expression and present their work effectively.

Confirm word choice using several different types of resources (rhyming).

At-Home Activities:

Play rhyming games! You can do this anywhere, anytime. Decide who is going to go first. Say a word, for example, "book". Your child must add a word that rhymes with "book". Take turns until you can't think of any more rhyming words, then start on another word!

Practice writing poetry together! Acrostic poetry is always a great way to introduce poetry into your child's life. For example, on a lined piece of paper write the word "RAINBOW" vertically down the page (leaving a couple spaces between each letter). Using the "R" write a word or sentence that starts with "R" that relates to "RAINBOW", for example, "Rain" or "Rain makes a rainbow come out". Then continue with each of the other letters of "RAINBOW".